


protego people's prejudice

by leekuanlin



Series: bonds of blood [1]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bullying, Gen, Mentioned suicide, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 19:45:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11562057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leekuanlin/pseuds/leekuanlin
Summary: Daehwi's life plans change at thewordsdrop of a hat, but he's got a friend to help him through it. The two of them begin their journey as wizards, doing their best to survive in a school full of prejudice.(prequel to accio my heart)





	protego people's prejudice

**Author's Note:**

> takes place before amh, starting from when daehwi's a teeny lil eleven y/o. there's a couple years between the end of this and amh though, but i'll fill in the gaps w another addition to the series (not daehwi centric tho hoooo)  
> again, i didn't look over this super well and wrote it in like 2 days ?? so sorry in advance for any grammar and spelling mistakes !  
> any comments and kudos are v v appreciated !!!

Daehwi first shows signs of magic in junior high. His parents love teasing him, chattering endlessly about how he would always lift the worst things he could - his brother’s fishbowl (RIP Jeremy), his father’s favorite snow globe, their great-aunt Seonmi’s glass portrait - without even noticing, and then dropping it when he realized what was going on. He had been born into a Pureblood family, so it had only been a matter of time before he started displaying any signs. Even still, most of his family members had shown signs far earlier than he had - his cousins in primary school, his brother as an infant, and his parents before their age had turned into double digits. (Daehwi tries very hard to forget the times when he heard his parents whispering between themselves, worrying themselves gray over Daehwi’s fate - a lone Squib in a family full of wizards? What would they _do_ \- and instead remembers the joy on their faces when he accidentally levitated his bowl of cereal.)

His family dresses him up in one of his brother’s old robes immediately, Slytherin scarf wrapped around his still-too-small frame. They all coo and applaud; _Another Lee to join the Slytherins!_ They laugh, and Daehwi laughs with them. It feels nice to not have to worry - to have your fate go as planned, not a centimeter out of place (even though it’s a few years late).

The kids at school start to pick on him, but Daehwi stays strong knowing he’s going to leave soon enough. It’s only a year until he’s able to leave - he can bare with it until then.

(A year is plenty for angry, jealous children to leave their mark.)

 

\--------

 

His entire family insists on coming with him to buy his supplies - _the youngest is off to Hogwarts!_ They laugh, yet Daehwi doesn’t mind; the familiar company is welcome, and it helps to calm his nerves when he thinks about the new school. They pile books upon books into their arms, encouraging Daehwi to pick his favorite animal - _An obedient owl? A curious cat? A magnificent mouse?_ He picks an owl, giggling at how they wiggle under his fingers - heads turning to keep an eye on him as he moves around the store. He selects his owl with ease - a small, light gray and brown colored owl with a gaze as steady as his own. He decides he’ll name them later, and the family sets off again, cooing over Daehwi as the boy tries to find the best wand for himself.

 

\--------

 

The train ride to Hogwarts is fairly uneventful - but Daehwi does meet another boy, with pale skin and dark eyes, who seems just as out of place as he feels. They complement each other well, and by the end of the ride they’re talking like they’ve known each other for their entire lives.

They have to split up after they arrive at the castle - everyone gathering in alphabetical order for the Sorting Hat. Daehwi feels a bit bad for the other boy - he had been worrying constantly on the train about what house he was going to be sorted into - if he could make any friends, if he didn’t fit in - whereas Daehwi has known his entire life what house he would be sorted into. Along with every member of his family being Pureblood, they’re all Slytherins, so it’s only natural that Daehwi follow all the siblings and ancestors that came before him.

He shoots the other an encouraging look when he can, mouthing, “It’s okay, Jinyoung!” before it’s his turn and he steps towards the stool.

He sits down, and the weight of the Sorting Hat is light on his head, even as they speak quicker than Daehwi can comprehend. He’s able to catch some of the mumbles - “courageous”, “family-oriented”, “cunning”, “reliable”, and “trustworthy”. The hat hums for a moment, then pats him the best it can as a hat, and says, “Sorry kid. Hufflepuff!”

Daehwi’s mind is a haze when he stumbles off the stool. The Hufflepuff tables cheer, but Daehwi can barely register it past the ringing in his ears. _Hufflepuff_ . A senior student gently guides him to a seat, presumably thinking that he’s just nervous. Which, he _is_ , but that’s not all that’s going through his mind.

It’s only when a few students start whispering, telling each other how everyone else in his family was sorted into Slytherin does it start to get overwhelming. The haze, which had been slowly fading away, comes back in full force, and Daehwi chokes out an excuse to the students around him, and he bolts.

By the time he’s able to focus again, he’s in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by nothing except darkness and some faint chatter coming from outside. He would try and feel around him to determine where he is, except it’s still hard for him to breathe - air seeming too little and too thick for him to clear his head properly.

It’s a few minutes later that the door is suddenly broken down, a towering figure looming in the doorway. Daehwi, still unable to breathe, lets out a small squeak of terror; he’s considering trying to scream for help before Jinyoung steps in front of the intimidating person - now that Daehwi sees the robes and tie, they look like a student - and tackles him.

Daehwi half laughs and half chokes - Jinyoung is pretty heavy, after all - and is confused when he feels a bit of wetness from his shoulder where Jinyoung’s resting his head.

“Jinyoung?” he shifts his shoulder, nudging the other to get up. “You good?”

When Jinyoung lifts his head, his face is scrunched up like he’s trying not to cry, but he’s failing miserably as tears streak down his cheeks, “Are _you?_ I was so worried, Daehwi!”

Daehwi’s hit with an enormous wave of guilt - _he_ was why Jinyoung had worried, _he_ was why he was crying. How terrible of a friend - a _person_ \- was he? He couldn’t even get into the house he was supposed to, and now he caused the first friend he made to start crying are you _kidding_ -

“Hey!” Jinyoung smacks Daehwi’s cheek, harder than an eleven year old should be capable of, and stares Daehwi straight in his eyes, “ _I_ was worried about _you_. Because you’re my friend. And I worry a lot. I can see you beating yourself up-” he pauses, then blinks. “In your head? There’s a word for that.” He blinks again.

“Mentally?” The older student offers, still standing by the doorway.

Jinyoung nods enthusiastically. “Yes! Thank you!” he smiles at the student, who offers a small grin back, and then turns back to Daehwi. “Right. Stop mentally beating yourself up. I cry a lot, so don’t worry too much. As long as you’re okay, I’m okay.”

Daehwi would cry if he wasn’t still terrified of the older student. They give Daehwi a gentle smile, gaze soft and comforting, and he relaxes a little.

“I’m gonna go, okay?” they ask, and Jinyoung gives a little mumble of assent, shortly followed by a barely understandable “thank you”.

It’s just the two of them again - Jinyoung rubbing at his eyes and taking frequent breaks to make sure Daehwi’s okay. Daehwi feels bad, but the guilt is overpowered by how _grateful_ he feels. Throughout his entire life, he’s never met someone who cared as much as Jinyoung, friend or not. It’s refreshing, and also incredibly sweet, and soon enough he’s tearing up and tackling the other (not as payback, even though that’s a plus) to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” he says, words muffled through Jinyoung’s robes, “I won’t do it again.”

“Promise?” Jinyoung asks, and Daehwi agrees immediately.

“Promise.”

 

\--------

 

A teacher finds them later, not having moved a centimeter from before, limbs tangled together and eyes red and puffy from crying. Thankfully, the teacher doesn’t say anything, though they do heave a rather heavy sigh and rub at their temples when Daehwi and Jinyoung try to get to their feet and fail, falling onto the floor in an even bigger mess than before. They’re both ushered to their respective house common rooms, but not before they make each other promise to not cry any more. As their paths split, Daehwi feels lighter than he has in a while - even if anything were to happen, Daehwi knows that he wouldn’t have to face it alone.

 

\--------

 

To say that interacting with his housemates is awkward is an understatement. It’s a well-known fact by now that Daehwi’s the lone Hufflepuff in his entire family tree, and while normally this wouldn’t be that big of an issue, the fact that all of his ancestors were sorted into Slytherin _is_.

And Daehwi understands. Even though his entire family is full of softies - people who may be cunning, but are also kind, and generous, and forgiving - they’re still _Slytherins_ , and the prejudice against the house is only slightly less than it had been decades ago. No matter what Daehwi might try to say or do, his housemates seem convinced that he - along with every seemingly decent Slytherin - is an evil mastermind in disguise.

“Sure, not all Slytherins are evil wizards, but all evil wizards are Slytherins” a student had told Daehwi when he tried to defend the house of snakes.

It was such a prejudiced - and _false_ \- statement that he was stunned out of words. Out of the fifty most recent evil wizards, only about thirty of them were Slytherins. And most of them only became evil because they were cast out by other wizards because they were Slytherin. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy that Daehwi’s astounded no one else can see.

Jinyoung, at the very least, is fairly agreeable to him. Even if he can’t completely see or understand the immense prejudice Slytherins face, he doesn’t deny the fact that people treat them differently than they would members of any other house.

But a single wizard can’t change the entire school’s “house-ism”, especially not a random first-year, so Daehwi tries to ignore the disgusted gazes and fearful postures of the students around him, and pretends that everything’s fine. (It isn’t.)

 

\--------

 

Nothing particularly bad happens until the end of the school year. Most of the upperclassmen are celebrating finishing their exams, while the younger students begin to stress prepare for the next year’s studies. Mostly, though, everyone is thinking about returning home, and seeing their family after so long. Thoughts of family, though, causes a few particularly self-righteous students to act up against Slytherins, starting first by mocking them, practically gleeful when their victims start to break down.

Daehwi’s heard of it happening - Jinyoung’s warned him to stay away from anyone he doesn’t know, and to advise other students with Slytherin family members to do the same - but he’s never experienced it or seen it happen before. Everything’s normal until he rounds a corner and sees a student cornered by a group of much taller Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs.

Daehwi isn’t sure what’s going on at first - he can only see the back of the student’s head, so he can’t see what expression they’re making -  but then they turn just the slightest bit towards him, and he can make out Jinyoung’s distinct profile. He catches sight of tears welling up in the other’s eyes and he’s bolting forward before he can even think about what he’s doing.

His mind is filled with haze, but it’s different than when he had been sorted - it’s darker, and more intense, and all Daehwi knows is that _people are hurting Jinyoung._

He’s not quite aware of what’s happening, of what he’s doing, but all he knows is that Jinyoung is _terrified_ of the students in front of him and Daehwi wants them to _stop_ . (He wants to _make_ them stop.)

Books from nearby students - students who are just _watching_ them harass Jinyoung, shoving him against the wall and laughing when the first tear spills - are yanked out of their grasps, giving several cuts and bruises as they fly around the narrow hallway, moving at a rapid speed.

The closer Daehwi gets to Jinyoung, the more intensely the books move, circling around Daehwi like a living shield. The students surrounding Jinyoung stop then, turning to stare at the student approaching them. Daehwi knows they’re afraid when he meets their eyes. He knows everyone’s thinking about how he truly _is_ a Slytherin, and now he’s going to snap like _all_ Slytherins do, and he’s going to prove everyone right even though he’s only doing it for his best friend.

It’s ridiculous, and Daehwi hates how everyone ignores the tears running down Jinyoung’s cheeks to murmur about how all Slytherins are the same.

The books drop in an instant, and everyone in the hallway jumps at the heavy cracking sound they make when they hit the marble floor.

Daehwi takes his friend’s hand, giving him a squeeze and the most encouraging look a terrified, angry eleven year old can muster, and turns to the people around them.

He’s about to speak, practically shaking at rage, but someone beats him to it.

It’s an older student, but only by a year or two, but they grab everyone’s attention when they run into the hall and glare at everyone in sight - except for Daehwi and Jinyoung. Daehwi recognizes him as Jonghyun - one of the few Hufflepuffs that had been kind to Daehwi, always offering to help him find his classes or sit with him and Jinyoung during meals - but the usual softness to his gaze is replaced by pure anger, ferocity radiating off of his entire body.

“Are you kidding me?” His voice is cold, almost calm, but the message behind his words is anything but. “Harassing Slytherins? Harassing their _friends_ ? Are you _serious_ ?” He turns to the students who had been watching the entire ordeal as though it was entertainment, gaze piercing, but mostly disappointed. “And just _watching it happen?_ I thought Hogwarts was better than this. You came here, to, what? Bully others because of how _you_ thought they should be? Bully them for making friends with people who aren’t exactly like them? What the _fuck_.” Several of the younger students - Daehwi and Jinyoung included - flinch at the swear, but not even the teachers who have finally started to arrive try to interrupt him, much less reprimand him.

Jonghyun turns a harrowing gaze towards the students who had been surrounding Jinyoung, “And you. You all think you’re so _great_ for tearing others apart? What, you can only think highly of yourself once you’ve knocked everyone down to your level?” A few of them look somewhat ashamed, but Daehwi can also tell that several of them don’t seem to care, even as Jonghyun so publicly criticizes them.

 _They don’t care that they hurt others._ Daehwi realizes. It’s a terrifying thought, and it sends chills down Daehwi’s spine.

Jonghyun seems to be able to tell the same, as he turns to those students in particular as he continues speaking, “You pride yourselves on your houses - your _bravery_ , your _intelligence_ , your freaking _loyalty_ .” He practically spits the last word, stepping forward until he’s barely a meter away from one of the Hufflepuffs. “ _Loyal?_ How could you call yourself _loyal_ when you’re harassing a student because of something their _friend_ is? Something the friend can’t even control?”

The Hufflepuffs all look a little taken aback - unashamed or not, there’s not a single student that doesn’t have _some_ sort of pride about fitting into their house.

“And you,” Jonghyun turns to the Ravenclaws, stepping towards them with furious, _dangerous_ steps, “you think you’re _so_ smart. Congratulations! You just assumed an entire _house_ full of people are the! Exact! Same! You think you’re smart? Stop generalizing people! You think you can call yourself a Ravenclaw if you can’t even respect the fact that people are _different_ from each other?” He makes eye contact with one Ravenclaw in particular, eyes narrowing as he does so, “You of all people should know better than to assume that.”

A few of the spectators snicker, and Daehwi is so _sick_ of them assuming that they’re so much better than everyone else. If they didn’t stand up for Jinyoung they have _absolutely_ no room to talk.

Their reaction doesn’t go unnoticed by Jonghyun, though, and he spins to face them with a speed Daehwi is _definitely_ a little scared of.

“What? Because I’m calling someone out on their personal history you think it’s _funny?_ While you’ve been standing there, watching everything happen - watching these people you think you can judge harass _how_ many students? So you can stand on the sidelines and get away unscathed. And don’t try to argue that you were ‘waiting for the right moment’, or you ‘didn’t want to get hurt’. Because guess _what,_ sweetheart?” Jonghyun grabs the robe of one of the students who had laughed the loudest, who now looks like they’re about to soil their pants, “ _You’re disgusting_ . You think _pity_ stops people from bullying? You think your stupid self preservation does anything? No! It makes _you_ a coward, and the _victim_ alone.” He releases the student, who nearly falls over in their attempt to stagger away. “You all are a disgrace to everything Hogwarts is supposed to be.”

Jonghyun glares at the students, and Daehwi would pity them if he didn’t hate them so much.

When it’s clear that Jonghyun’s done, the teachers step forward and divide the students, pulling aside the bullies and the spectators, dividing them into groups that Daehwi describes as “unapologetic sadists”, “apologetic sadists”, “judgy spectators”, and “regretful spectators”.

 

The hallway is clear within moments, only Jonghyun, Daehwi, and Jinyoung left in the hallway. It’s only a few seconds before Jonghyun straight up _collapses_ , legs crumpling beneath him as he drops onto the ground. Both Daehwi and Jinyoung shriek and try to help him back up, but he waves them off and slides himself into a sitting position instead.

“Sorry, sorry.” he actually looks sorry, but Daehwi has no idea why. Didn’t he just help them? What was there to be sorry for? “Don’t worry about me. Jinyoung, are you okay?”

Jinyoung nods frantically, so obviously concerned about the older rather than himself that Jonghyun can’t help but crack a smile.

“Jonghyun?” Daehwi asks, and the older turns to him with a curious gaze. “You helping… I mean, I’m thankful, but I just-”

“Don’t understand why? I disagreed with them.” He gives a little shrug, “So I had to do something about it.”

Daehwi nods, pausing. “That’s cool, but I was wondering more how you did it.”

Jonghyun stares at him, and Daehwi’s quick to try to clarify, “Like, it’s not easy to do! So I was just wondering if you had.... Tips? Or something like that.”

Jonghyun laughs, and both Daehwi and Jinyoung are confused until he explains, “Sorry, I’m just a bit embarrassed that I interrupted you and then didn’t even answer your question. Sorry for interrupting you, by the way.”

Jonghyun is quite literally the most charming person Daehwi’s ever met, so he immediately tells him it’s fine.

“I mean, it’s more like…” Jonghyun scratches his chin as he tries to think of the best way to answer, “You can’t overthink it. Like, if you think something is wrong, you’re immediate reaction is that you want them to stop. But if you start thinking about it more than that, then you’re thinking about what exactly you would say, and how you don’t wanna cause a scene, and what if they beat you up, and so on. But if you don’t think that you can ignore those thoughts, just try to stop yourself from thinking them. If you see something you disagree with, act. Don’t go in guns blazing, of course, but you can still act quickly alongside a bit of logic and common sense. If you start overthinking it you’re never gonna do it.”

 

\--------

 

Things have calmed down somewhat, and Daehwi’s gotten a bit closer to several of his classmates. He’s not particularly close with them, but they’re people he can sit next to and talk to in class, so he’ll take what he can get.

One girl in particular has been extra kind to Daehwi, and while he doubts she could ever be closer to him than Jinyoung, he appreciates the effort she puts into talking to him. She defends Slytherins too, criticizing both the actual bullies and the students and staff who just let it happen. Daehwi’s incredibly glad she started talking to him - she’s sweet and funny enough, _and_ she doesn’t tolerate any of the anti-Slytherin b.s. a lot of the students still have.

He realizes a few weeks later that he was wrong. He’s talking to her about some new statistic he found out - most Slytherin parents apparently pay more attention to their children, whereas Ravenclaws spend the most money on them - when she giggles and nudges Daehwi with her shoulder.

Pointing at a group of Slytherins several meters away, she says, “I seriously don’t get the whole thing against Slytherins! I mean, _look_ at them.” Daehwi doesn’t really see what that has to do with anything, but he smiles automatically in place of a response, “They’re so _hot_ . Like, the whole snake thing? And being cunning and sly? Wow, can you _say_ sexy?”  
Daehwi stills. Something about this conversation seems off, and with each passing second his desire to leave the classroom increases tenfold.

“Slytherins may not be super brave or smart or loyal or whatever,” she continues, “but they’re almost _exotic_ , you know what I mean? And I’m pretty sure they’re also the minority house in this school.”

Daehwi tries to bite his tongue to avoid disagreeing, but eventually decides to just follow Jonghyun’s advice and speak his mind, “Yeah, but Hogwarts isn’t necessarily the best example of house distribution. Like in the entire world, there are more Slytherins than, say, Gryffindors.”

She shrugs, brushing him off, “Okay, but _here_ they’re like a rare type of person. Like the whole pale skin, dark hair thing? _So_ hot.”  
“Um.” Daehwi wants to throw up.

“Even better if they’re tall and like, _slim_ , you know what I mean? Like have you ever seen a Slytherin that _wasn’t_?”

“Yeah, I have.” Daehwi isn’t quite sure what the _hell_ kind of crack this girl is on, but he wants to be as far away from it as possible.

“Okay, but practically _all_ Slytherins are. Have you seen any of them do spells? Ugh, just imagining them practicing dark magic with like, a really intense gaze makes me want to _die_.”

Daehwi physically balks. “ _What?_ ” he hisses, recoiling when she tries to get closer to him, “First, stereotyped fetishes? What the _hell_ . Second, _suicide_?”

She rolls her eyes, still smiling and not at all noticing how close Daehwi is to snapping, “It’s a _joke_ , Daehwi. Calm down.”

“It’s not funny,” he spits, “and I have somewhere I need to be. Please don’t talk to me again.” He grabs his things and storms out of the classroom, ignoring the curious gazes of his peers as he does so.

He’s just so _angry_ \- she was just as bad as everyone else, putting Slytherins into categories and assuming they were all the same, except she freaking _fetishized_ it, she thought joking about taking her own life was _funny, what the hell_.

He heads to his room and throws his pillows around, angry that he hasn’t learnt any sound barrier or isolation spells that would allow him to be able to scream out his frustrations without getting any unwanted attention.

Angry at himself and at everyone’s complete prejudice, he heads to the library, grabbing the first few books he sees on general spells and begins to memorize them.

 

\--------

 

Daehwi’s woken up by Jinyoung, who looks concerned but mostly unimpressed when Daehwi attempts to wipe his drool from the textbooks beneath him.

“Seriously? It’s one thing to study on your own, it’s another to fall asleep while doing it.”

“Shut up, you’re like twelve.” Daehwi groans before letting his head fall back to the table with a thud.

“I’m thirteen - _you’re_ the twelve year old. Also, shut up.”

“Let me live, Jinyoung.”

“Again, shut up.” He pauses, then the concern on his face increases, “What are you doing? I heard you ditched Transfigurations.”

Daehwi nods from where his head is nearly stuck to several textbooks, “Yeah, Ellie was being a jerk.”

Jinyoung raises an eyebrow, “I thought Ellie was nice? What happened?”

“She’s gross and thinks Slytherins are all the same, but she thinks their stereotypes are _attractive_. Attractive!”

Jinyoung winces as he imagines it, “Oh, yikes. So you ditched?”

“Yeah,” Daehwi agrees, then stops for a second, “who told you?”

“The teacher.” Jinyoung responds easily, looking disappointed that Daehwi’s even asking, “You think _I’d_ be talking to anyone except for you?”

Daehwi shoots him the best apologetic look he can from when half of his face is pressed flat, “Right. Social interactions are a no-go for you. Sorry.”

“It’s aight.” Jinyoung shrugs, “But c’mon. Dinner’s in like, ten minutes, and I am _not_ going to be squeezed between a hundred other students trying to squeeze through the doors.”

 

\--------

 

Daehwi withdraws a bit from most of his classmates - a bit scarred by his relationship with Ellie - and spends most of his time either studying, sleeping, or messing around with Jinyoung. He tries to avoid trouble, and stays away from people he knows are so stuck in their prejudices they refuse to listen to a word of common sense.

It’s only when nearly half the student population straight up _disappears_ that Daehwi starts paying attention to whatever’s going on within the school. He realizes it when he and Jinyoung are walking together to their first class of the day, and the hallways are nearly empty except for the two of them, even though they’re typically filled to the brim around this time.

“Maybe there’s some sort of trip?” Jinyoung suggests, but they both know it’s unlikely. All events are planned in advance, and the faculty would have found out about a student-declared vacation day if more than twenty people were in on it.

They catch sight of Jonghyun a few moments later, who’s walking _incredibly_ serenely, completely unfazed by the lack of students.

“Jonghyun!” Daehwi and Jinyoung run to him - if anyone knows what’s going on, it’s Jonghyun.

“Hey Daehwi, hey Jinyoung. How have you both been?” He smiles kindly at them, but Daehwi’s able to catch sight of pure satisfaction beneath the surface. Jinyoung seems to notice it too, and he nudges Daehwi in confusion.

“Um, fine. Why are so many people not here?” Daehwi asks quickly. The more he looks at the older, the more he has the feeling that he had more than a small say in whatever caused these events to unfold.

“They either transferred or dropped out.” He replies simply, smile on his lips as he speaks. “We’ll be getting some new transfers, though, so it won’t stay this empty for long.”

“New transfers?” Jinyoung asks, “From where?”

Jonghyun waves a hand through the air, “A bunch of different places. Beauxbatons, Mahoutokoro, Koldovstoretz... Those are the main few, but. It’ll probably still be smaller than before, but it won’t be as extreme as it is right now.”

Daehwi stares at him, “Jonghyun? Did you cause this?”

The older sighs, satisfaction giving way to an uncertainty that Daehwi had been completely unable to see. “Yes. The board asked me to help weed out the students causing an ‘unsafe and prejudiced environment’,” he says, using his fingers to mark the professors’ words, “as well as come up with some idea how to fix the problem.”

“So your idea was to kick everyone out?” Daehwi doesn’t necessarily disagree, but he has to admit that it’s a bit of an extreme solution.

“No, my idea was to create a separate campus, and divide people accordingly.”

“Divide them how?” Jinyoung asks.

“People who are willing to change, and people who aren’t.” Jonghyun says simply. “Prejudiced or not, people who are willing to think differently shouldn’t be stuck with people with harmful ideas that _aren’t_.”

“That… Makes sense.” Daehwi pauses. It’s not necessarily a _perfect_ way of fixing the problem, but it certainly is one of the better ones.

Jonghyun nods, “Yeah, but the professors wanted a more clean separation. So those with harmful prejudices are transferred until they’ve changed, and will be given the choice to transfer back or stay at their new school. And the people with harmful beliefs that won’t - or can’t - change have either dropped out, or are at a school where the faculty can make sure they can’t hurt anyone.”

Daehwi personally likes Jonghyun’s idea better, but there’s no point in complaining when it’s already been done.

Jonghyun sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. Daehwi finally realizes how tired the older boy looks, and he and Jinyoung share a sympathetic glance. Daehwi’s about to ask him if he wants to join himself and Jinyoung in the library when he’s interrupted by a small group of guys shouting Jonghyun’s name.

There are four of them, and Daehwi looks at them all carefully. He’s never seen any of them before, and he doesn’t know how they know each other _or_ Jonghyun, but if they’re friends with him they’re all probably good people. The first one is startlingly tall, and is, quite frankly, beautiful. The person behind him is significantly shorter, screaming the loudest, and would probably look like a member of a royal family if his mouth wasn’t open so wide and his eyes wild with emotions Daehwi can’t even come close to recognizing. The second loudest person has light brown hair, and is straight up _cackling_ as they sprint towards Jonghyun. The last is significantly faster than the rest, although he’s also slightly more calm - he’s handsome, but also straight-up _terrifying_ . He’s already growing a bit of stubble, and his dark eyes and strong jawline don’t necessarily help to _not_ terrify the daylights out of Daehwi.

But then he scoops up Jonghyun, setting him back down onto the ground quickly after, patting his hair and asking if he’s alright. It’s such a complete 180 from what Daehwi had expected, but he isn’t given any time to dwell on it before the rest of the group arrives, attempting to tackle Jonghyun until he shoves them back, complaining about his back.

Daehwi’s a bit concerned for Jonghyun at first, but the light’s back in his eyes and he’s laughing louder than Daehwi has ever heard, so he stays silent. Jonghyun’s a great person, and he’s glad that he has people that care about and support him. He and Jinyoung leave before it gets too intimate, but the memory of the strangers - of the last one in particularly - stays with Daehwi even in his dreams.

(He attributes it to the fact that he feels bad for stereotyping them, but he imagines their warm gaze and laughter, and he feels a warmth in his heart that he does his best to ignore.)

**Author's Note:**

> welp ngl it wasn't as angsty as i thought i was gonna make it, but after a while i was like nah, this is p good by itself. no more tears, soonhee. so. only a few k long!  
> and for those of u who wanna read a lil more about some of the scenes and my reasoning behind adding them in, here u go (if u don't want to read this - it is a bit long - thank u for reading and i hope u enjoyed it !)  
> the bullying scene: one of the main things i wanted to show was that first: don't be a jerk, second: ppl can change - yes, even the prejudiced dickheads, third: bystanders contribute to the effect that bullies have - they don't stop them, and they make the victims feel even more alone/ganged up against, fourth, if you don't stand up, there's a chance that no one else will. BE that person. it's scary, but u gotta stick up for what u believe in. whether ure already respected by ppl or not, if u can help someone, help them. also, if u just stood by while someone was being hurt nd u disagreed with it but didn't do anything, you have absolutely NO room to talk or judge others. unless u helped, or did something to help, u can't judge others for being "worse" than u.  
> ellie: ngl i wrote the first name that came to my head, so i apologize to any ellies out there ! not tryna give yall a bad rep i promise. but the whole ellie thing was lowkey a more subtle thing most of this fic was about. in case u weren't able to tell w the whole "not all slytherins are evil wizards, but all evil wizards are slytherins" comment, yes, i was trying to add in some stuff abt racism nd all that. ppl like ellie aren't necessarily doing the same KIND of harm as the bullies, but by still stereotyping them and fetishizing them bc of small, stupid things that they can't control is straight up gross. nd yes, the previous comment was about muslims. not all muslims are terrorists, ppl. but ellie in particular was more 'calling out' ppl who fetishize other races - in the "kpop fandom" it's usually for koreans: korean men are so hot, korean guys are so exotic, koreans are so etc etc, and it applies to ppl of other races too !! black girls aren't sexy bc they 'all' have big butts/wide hips, and l and it's just. stop. it's one thing literally any other race thats only viewed as attractive bc of something that they have that 'other races' don't. remember, it's one thing to have a preference, another to demean a race by using them/viewing them as sexual objects rather than people w their own lives and feelings. nd abt the whole suicide joke - joking about taking your own life, or telling someone else to take theirs isn't funny. it never has been, and it never will be, and i don't know when the whole 'let's pretend that we're depressed nd say we want to kill ourselves' thing started, but it needs to stop. life is precious, and suicide isn't something that can just be joked about or said as some sort of conversation filler. it's a serious topic that affects countless peoples lives, and it's never something that can/should be taken lightly. whether u urself are suicidal or not, suicide isn't a joke. it's not about whether u actually feel that was - it's if u act as though suicide isn't a big deal, as though it doesn't destroy people and change families' lives forever.  
> it's okay if u do those things ! like in the fic (whooo) it's one thing if you're willing to change - if you can acknowledge other people's emotions and how ur own actions affect them, and will change so that you're not unnecessarily hurting them - but another if youre like 'lmao just suck it up and move on. it's not that big of a deal!!!' bc that's p rude, first of all, and second Not Good. everyone can change, and everyone deserves a second chance, but no one's entitled to being forgiven for every bad thing they've done if they don't regret it/aren't willing to change.
> 
> nyways, rant over. basically im bitter abt a lot of things, mostly abt people assuming they have room to judge others nd call them out on their bs even though they're just as bad. u don't have to be actively and physically attack someone to hurt them, or make them feel like crap. BUT !! if u agreed w all that, first: ily, second, hmu yo.
> 
> thank u everyone who read my fic (nd kudos to u if you read my entire rant. even i dont feel like reading it over - that ish long) nd i hope u all have a good day !!!
> 
>  
> 
> (spoiler: the next fic in this series will be jonghyun-centric, starting before this starts and continuing until the beginning of amh)


End file.
